Kauw before 1922

This stark black and white print was made by Johannes Frederik Engelbert ten Klooster and it has a real graphic punch. I can just imagine the artist carefully cutting away at a block of wood, guided by intuition, responding to the material as he went. I sympathise with the artist. Making a print is hard, but it can be so rewarding when it works. It's all about the balance of positive and negative space. The solid, inky shapes of the bird and spider create such drama against the blank page. I imagine ten Klooster standing back, squinting, making decisions about what to keep and what to carve away. What was he thinking as he made the clawed feet of the bird, or the fine web? There is an interesting connection to the work of artists such as Frans Masereel. Artists are always in conversation with one another, learning from the past. It's an exchange of ideas across time. Like all good paintings, this print embodies ambiguity, leaving space for multiple interpretations.